Deadly snow storm NE USA and Nor Easter events January 24 2016

The snow storm impacting the North east United States is creating havoc and grinding cities to a halt. Major cities across the north east impacted are New York, Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Boston, Wilmington, Hartford, Indianapolis, Cincinatti and Louisville. It soon becomes clear how 85 million residents are impacted by this event simply due to the number of major cities in its path.

This storm is now proving to be deadly and it appears that there are 14 casualties to date mainly from road accidents and people attempting to shovel snow but suffering heart attacks in doing so.

It is such a powerful storm that the National Weather Service is forecasting blizzards to impact Washington DC, New York City, Philadelphia, Long Island and other cities.

Coastal flood warnings are also in effect from Virginia to Massachusetts.

At 9 pm (EST), the core of the low pressurecell with a minimum pressure of 986 MB was located off the Virginia eastern shore line approximately 209 km south east of Wallops Island.

Reports in CNN suggests that this is the third heaviest snowfall for Central Park (New York) since records began in 1869 and CNN also reports 7,421 flights cancelled and 150,000 without power.

This is shaping up to what is termed a “Nor Easter”. A Nor Easter is a powerful storm that occurs between October and April which has a counter clockwise centre of rotation like a hurricane with winds from the north east. There are two elements that create the necessary conditions being a warm low pressure system from the Gulf Stream providing counter clockwise winds and a cold high pressure system from Canada with a clockwise rotation. The warm air cutting up through the cold air creates an unstable front. A nor easter brings large cloud masses, heavy rain or snowfall, flooding, storm surges and even gale force winds. Robert Coenraads (Natural Disasters) 2006 pp 313

These sort of storms are responsible for some major snow events or winter storms in recent years including "The Blizzard of 2003” (February 15 and 16 2003) and Boston (Saturday January 22 2005). Perhaps the worst such event was the storm of January 1922 in which Washington DC experienced record snowfalls of 61 cm in 48 hours with the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre collapsing under the weight of the snow resulting in 98 fatalities. Robert Coenraads (Natural Disasters) 2006 pp 296 - 312.

The storms often feature such heavy snow falls resulting in transport systems shutting down. Fatalities often result from car accidents and unfit people attempting to shovel snow. The weight of snow and ice on trees can fell tree limbs and disrupt power systems.

Another frightening aspect of these storms are the ice storms that can accompany them. They do fell power lines and in wet conditions, there is a threat of electrical shock if touched.

People have become marooned on highways in past storms due to vehicles becoming buried by snow sometimes with fatal consequences.

The kind of weather currently unfolding across the north east United States is similar to what is described here.

One of the satellite images shown is a view of Indianapolis. The storm has cleared to the east leaving the entire city snowbound with heavy snowfall evident. The disruption to that city will be replicated elsewhere across the region. Another issue to contend with is the melting snow and the probability of flooding in low lying regions as snow melts.

This storm event became the second most prolific snow storm experienced in New York City with 26.8 inches recorded (680.7 mm). The highest figure in New York City occurred at JFK Airport where 30.5 inches of snow fell (774.7 mm).

Interestingly at Boston further north, only 8.2 inches (208.3 mm) of snow fell.

It appears that there were 29 known fatalities from the event, mainly from vehicle accidents and heart attacks (people shoveling snow).

It appears the economic impact is not as severe as expected because the event occurred on a weekend rather than a weekday. As such significant losses from the various shutdowns is not as great as in previous storms that have occurred midweek.